Suge Knight pleads not-guilty to latest set of criminal charges

Former hip hop mogul Suge Knight was back in court yesterday to plead not-guilty to charges that he threatened to kill or cause serious harm to F Gary Gray, the film director who directed NWA biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’.

The alleged threats were made in August 2014, a year before the biopic – in which Knight is portrayed – was released. The matter was in court this week following a grand jury indictment making formal charges against the one time Death Row Records boss.

The grand jury indictment states that the threat Knight allegedly made to Gray was “on its face and under the circumstances in which it was made … so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey to Felix Gary Gray a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution. It is further alleged that the said Felix Gary Gray was reasonably in sustained fear of his safety and the safety of his immediate family”.

Knight denied the grand jury’s allegations in court yesterday. He is now battling three sets of criminal charges. In addition to this, he is facing robbery charges in relation to a 2014 altercation with a photographer, and murder charges after causing the death of Terry Carter – by driving into him – after a row in a car park in early 2015 nearby the filming of a trailer for the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ film.